Remote network computing is becoming increasingly important in database applications. Users desire to maintain databases of information on one computer while allowing users at several remote sites to obtain access to and update the data in the database.
One method of granting such access to varied remote users through the use of the Internet or an intranet. First, the database is maintained on some storage platform through the use of any of several commercially available database software packages. Then, the database is made available on the Internet or an intranet through a web server. Remote users can then use commercially available web browsers to access the database, for example by using browsers operable to interpret hyper text markup language (HTML). Such a system can require several layers of communication. A user using a web browser communicates over the Internet to the web server. The web server in turn processes the communication through a web applications server. The web application server then directs the request to a scroll/update control application (or "control applications") which in turn accesses the data on the database.
The control application processes the user's request, accesses the database, and then sends required information back to the user via the web applications server, web server, and the Internet or an intranet.
Each layer of protocol increases the amount of time required to service a user request. The more data sent via the Internet increases the communication time for the request.
The web browser incurs an additional time penalty. The user's web browser interprets information sent by the control application and creates a view on the user's computer monitor. Each time the web browser receives a package of data, it may need to redraw (or "refresh") the screen visible to the user. Thus, in addition to the communication time, the user must also wait for a delay caused by the refreshing time.